


Like a Flower

by quwrof



Category: Hunter X Hunter
Genre: Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Kurapika, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-23
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-16 20:39:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4639410
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quwrof/pseuds/quwrof
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leorio compares Kurapika to a flower three times. Angst in the middle but a happy ending.</p><p>Edit: fixed the formatting so it's not as hard to read.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Like a Flower

**Author's Note:**

> In this fic, Kurapika is dmab nonbinary and uses they/them pronouns. Leorio is also a trans dude, but it never really comes up, so I didn't feel comfortable tagging it that way.

The first time Leorio said it, he and Kurapika were sitting together under a tree on Zevil Island, their arms brushing against each other awkwardly, but with neither of them attempting to separate them.

“Stop me if this sounds stupid, but you’re like a flower,” he said, glancing down and to the left at Kurapika. Immediately, they held up a hand.

“It sounds pretty stupid already, but I want to hear the rest of it.” The hand went down, and Kurapika turned to look back at him. Leorio diverted his eyes and coughed into his elbow (the right one, of course. The left remained pressed up against Kurapika).

“Well, I mean, your hair is yellow, right? And your skin is kind of brownish, I guess. So if you lie down and spread your hair out, I’m pretty sure you would look like a sunflower,” he said with a faux confidence. “Not that I’m encouraging you to do it right now to see if I’m right or anything like that.”

Kurapika chuckled silently. “But you know I’m going to anyway,” they said softly, smiling.

“Wait, you are?!”  
“Well, it’s not like I have anything better to do.” They scooted down the tree (but somehow their right arm continued to make contact with Leorio on its way down— were they being too obvious?), and soon their head was level with Leorio’s waist at the base of the pine. “Help me with my hair, Leorio,” they said while staring up at him as best they could from their position.

“Are you sure?” he asked tentatively.

“It’s hair, you doofus,” replied Kurapika.

“Good point,” said Leorio, and he reached down with his right arm to pick chunks of Kurapika’s hair apart and spread them out. As soon as he touched their hair he became astutely aware of how intimate this would have appeared to an onlooker, especially given that his left hand was still really really close to Kurapika’s body, and oh god their face in the moonlight was so beautiful he could have just brushed away their bangs and kissed their forehead right then and there— stop. Stop, stop, stop. He had known Kurapika for what, two weeks? Jesus.

“Get it together!” he muttered to himself, straightening up and turning away.

Kurapika noticed his motions and tilted their head up slightly to look at him. “What’s wrong? Did I do something?”

“No, no, you’re great, really pretty— pretty okay you did nothing whatsoever! Great Job Kurapika!” he shouted, trying not to look at their eyes.

“That’s great, but maybe you should keep it down a little. We’re kind of being tracked down right now by God knows who.”

“That’s true.”

“Of course it is. Now do I look like a sunflower or not?”

Leorio peeked down back at them and said, “Well, to be honest, no. But that’s only because I’ve seen sunflowers during the day and not at night, and the lighting right now makes you kind of look bluer than a sunflower, which I guess you could call a sadflower, but I don’t really want to because it’s depressing.”

Kurapika sat back up and stared at him, pursing their lips (their arms broke contact and Leorio sighed internally, but only a little). “That sure was an explanation. It’s a shame though; I thought it would be kind of nice to look like a flower.”

 

* * *

 

The second time Leorio said it, he and Kurapika were sitting in a hotel room in Yorknew City, pretending there wasn’t any tension between them. Kurapika, seated on the bed, looked dead tired. Leorio wanted to push, to ask them what had happened, how he could make things even the tiniest better for them, but instead he leaned back in the uncomfortable side chair and sighed.

“You’re like a flower, you know that?” he said, trying to get a conversation going.

“I feel like you’ve said this before.”

“Well, I have, but I have a different reason this time, all right? So let me talk flowers with you.”

“If you say so.”

Leorio could tell Kurapika was too tired to fight with him over something so trivial. He said, “You’re like a flower because you look strong, but really you’re just a fragile as anyone else. I don’t know a lot of flowers by name, but I get the feeling that you’d be bluebells.”

Kurapika stared forward silently, unable to find humor in Leorio’s words. After a while, they said, “I’m not sure what to say to that.”

Leorio got out of the chair and sat down next to Kurapika on the bed. “You don’t really have to say anything, to be honest. I’m just trying to get rid of whatever This—” he waved his arms around, careful not to hit Kurapika— “This!!! Is.”

They smiled faintly at that. “What do you mean by This, you old man?”

Leorio stuck his pointer finger out in indignance. “Did you just call me an old man?! I’ll have you know that just recently, yes just recently on the third of March, This Third of March, I turned just twenty years old! I’m still young enough to date you of all people at least!” He yelled, directing his words to the hotel room wall instead of at Kurapika. He waited for a response, then looked over to his left.

Kurapika, or at least their top half, wasn’t there. Instead, it had fallen back on the bed, and they looked to be asleep. Leorio sighed. “Did you even hear any of that?” he asked the empty space next to him. No response. He leaned over Kurapika and brushed their hair out of their face. “Can you believe I wanted to kiss you back then?” he whispered.

Quietly, he got off the bed and threw a spare blanket over them and tried (unsuccessfully) to stick a pillow under their head. He turned out the lights and was about to leave, standing halfway in the doorway, when he said, “Can you believe I still do?”

 

* * *

 

The third time Leorio said it, he and Kurapika were lying in bed together in their shared apartment, recovering from a particularly intense mission. Kurapika was still asleep when he said it, but they woke up in time to hear the important parts.

“Did you know you’re like a flower?” he said quietly, brushing back their bangs and kissing their forehead. They rustled a bit in response, and he took that as a sign to continue.

“You’re like a flower because you’ve got yellow petals and a brown face like a sunflower, you’re delicate like a bluebell but strong like a dandelion, you’re as beautiful as a bouquet of roses, and you smell better than lavendar, and—”

“Oh my God, Leorio.”

“What?” He leaned back and looked at them dead-on.

“That’s the cheesiest thing anyone has ever said to me. Don’t get me wrong, though. I love it.” They looked into his eyes and kissed him softly. “And I love you, too.”

Leorio laughed. “And you think I’m cheesy!”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first fic in like, years!!! Anyway, thanks for reading. Contact me on tumblr @ gigswrites.


End file.
